One of the best pieces to describe the transformation of a journalist's work in the age of the connected audience is Andrew Sullivan's Atlantic essay, Why I blog. Written in 1AT (2008 – one year "anno Twitter"), it comes across now as a little antiquated, but Sullivan was an early and successful adopter of the jump from the monolithic column to the journalistic dialogue.

Now Sullivan, who is a leading political commentator in the United States, is peeling off from his current publisher The Daily Beast, and going it alone with his Daily Dish site and the six people who help him run it. The Daily Dish charges $20 a year, and for now will remain free of advertising.

The move says a great deal about the current economics of journalism, and the future tensions between individuals and institutions.

Sullivan's 18 months at the Daily Beast began as part of its editor–in-chief, Tina Brown, deciding to bring in a number of high-profile names at rumoured great cost; his stint there ended with the Daily Dish contract and Sullivan deciding that editorially (and maybe economically) going solo was a better option.

Sullivan is simultaneously testing two hypotheses: that readers who love journalism will pay for it in digital format, and that individual journalists are dominant in the packaged brand. Both of these ideas are central themes in "future of journalism" discourse, but both are much more discussed than actually acted upon.

On the same day that Sullivan went solo, his former home, The Atlantic, announced that it too might be thinking of implementing some kind of online payment mechanism during 2013.

Sullivan's economics are that he needs $900,000 to sustain his team and he had raised this for the first year within one day; this relies, as Jay Rosen, professor of journalism at NYU, noted, on the personal relationship between the Sullivan brand and his readers.

The economics look a little perilous for the kind of broad political and cultural analysis Sullivan produces, but less so given the loyalty of his following. The only question is whether enough of his daily readership will be motivated to pay. Instinctively, it feels as though a first year target should not be that hard to achieve, but – as with so much funding of new enterprises – it is the maintenance of a steady stream which is more problematic.

If Sullivan does make this work, stand by for imitators. However, the very personal nature of the journalism means that it will be literally impossible to replicate as a business model.

The main premise of Post-Industrial Journalism, a recent report released by Columbia Journalism School (where I teach), was the idea that there is a recalibration in journalism which sees a shift of power from the institution to the individual; and as a result that durable institutions, which are much-needed, are likely to serve the needs of the individual rather than the other way round.

Sullivan's New Year resolution does set the tone for 2013: change is accelerating for journalism, and it may never revert to a stable state. Those who are most favoured in this environment are those who are willing to adapt not once, or twice, but perhaps on a continual basis to the changing environment.